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How to Put Together the Perfect Diet Meal Plan (According to Your Calorie Needs!)

Not to compare apples to oranges, but finding the perfect meal plan is a little bit like finding your soulmate. If you play your cards right, you’ll land on one that fits you and your lifestyle perfectly!

Don’t get it twisted, though: the perfect meal plan isn’t about to just show up out of nowhere to woo you like your favorite romcom lead. Life isn’t like the movies, and sometimes you gotta work to get what you need. So, ask yourself some tough questions: “What is my weight goal? Do I want to maintain my current weight, lose a few pounds, or gain some? What do I want?”

Once you’ve figured all of that out, you have to delve into the next phase of your meal plan journey: determining your calorie needs.

COUNTING CALORIES FOR YOUR MEAL PLAN

But first, let’s take a deep dive into calories.

This word gets thrown around so often, usually surrounded by a buzz of negativity. Like, “Oh, sorry, I can’t have that—it has too many calories.” But calories aren’t the enemy here! Believe it or not, getting cozy with calorie-counting is all part of healthy and sustainable weight loss.

Simply put, calories are just a measure of energy. It’s the amount of energy released when your body digests food. The more calories you take in, the more energy you expend. That’s not inherently a bad thing, unless you eat more than what your body needs.

When you overeat (AKA going over the amount of calories your body can burn off), that’s when you store all of that extra as dreaded body fat. If you’re looking to shed pounds, the equation goes: more activity + less calories = success.

When your body absorbs calories consistent with the amount it needs, your metabolism gets a boost. The higher your metabolic rate, the more calories you burn, the easier it is to lose weight overall. With us so far?

For those looking to gain weight, 700-1,000 calories daily is the recommended amount you should add to your meals

However, it’s always best to know exactly what YOUR body needs. These figures are averages, so one size most definitely doesn’t fit all. First, determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) to know the calories you should bee consuming. Just plug in all your basic information (age, gender, weight, height, physical activity) into this handy calculator to get the number you should be aiming for.

HOW TO PUT TOGETHER THE PERFECT MEAL PLAN

Armed with your BMR, you can get into planning your meals.

Take the average woman looking to lose weight. That leaves us with a baseline of 1,500/day. How does that break down into balanced meals?

It’s best to distribute this sum across your three main meals. This means allocating 500 calories for breakfast, another 500 for lunch, and the last 500 for dinner. Sounds doable, right? If you’re the mid-afternoon snacking type, you can even cut your third meal in half to make room for an extra snack.

The beauty of meal plans is they’re highly customizable! After all, they should fit as snugly as they can into your day-to-day life. If you prefer a heavy breakfast and a light dinner, just add more calories to the former and shrink the latter. It’s entirely up to you and your needs.

A good thing to keep in mind when you’re just beginning to flex your calorie-counting muscles is to be diligent in checking nutrition information. There are plenty of useful calorie-counting apps out there (not to mention all your favorite search engines!) that can help make it whole a lot easier.

WHAT DOES A HEALTHY MEAL PLAN LOOK LIKE?

Need examples? Here’s what you can expect from a typical tasty and well-balanced meal plan. Everything at just 1,500 total calories a day!

CONCLUSION

See, it’s not so bad—especially when you remember it’s not about starving yourself. If you focus on picking nourishing foods that will fill you up and keep you energized, you’ll never, ever have to go hungry.

There are hundreds of creative and yummy ways to transform your current diet into a lower calorie one. With a little discipline, research, and lots of patience, you’ll be your own #fitspiration in no time! Remember: a truly perfect meal plan should get you enough nutritionally-dense calories for your weight loss goals while satisfying your tastebuds, too!

If she's not eating sushi, Steph is probably thinking about it. Aside from raw fish, Steph likes to think about her growing pile of unread books, how puns are made, her next culinary experiment, coffee, and the color pink.